All'Acqua Opens in Atwater With Artisan Pizza, Pasta and Salumi

All'Acqua is now open on Glendale Blvd. in Atwater

The folks from Barbrix have been remodeling the former Acapulco spot on Glendale Blvd. for some time and this weekend, they unveiled All'Acqua, the Italian-accented sibling to the Silver Lake wine bar. At one frazzled point in parenting, I was pretty happy to find both a margarita and a kids menu, but Acapulcos are for the suburbs, not for up-and-coming Atwater. All'Acqua is more more in line with the neighborhood's needs for a casual but buzzy spot for supple artisan pizza, a variety of pasta dishes, a few main courses and a good-sized salumi and cheese selection. There's a full bar with cocktails like the Eastsider and the Farmers Market Special, a wine list as interesting as Barbrix's and several craft beer taps. Our early tasting of the pizza was very promising, especially the clam and the zingy Diavolo!
Here's a link to the full menu.

Quick Bite: Wood Firms Up Silver Lake Pizza Competition

What: Wood Handcrafted Pizza
Where: 2861 W. Sunset Blvd. at Parkman -- you can't miss it if you look for the giant Tom's Burgers sign
The Goods: Wood was launched a few months ago by Erik Martirosyan, whose family started Big Mama and Papa's Pizza in Hollywood and famously delivered to the Dolby theater while the Oscars were in progress. Wood is a higher-end artisan pizza place with a larger menu of appetizers and salads, and beer and wine coming in a few weeks.

wood-burning oven behind the prep counter

The Neapolitan-style pizzas range from basic margarita ($12) to arugula and prosciutto ($17) to the Ellen special with vegan cheese, avocados, balsamic glaze, etc. ($21). At a recent tasting, I found the tender, stretchy crust quite appealing, dotted with crispy spots from the wood-burning oven. The lamb sausage-topped pizza is a savory nod to the owner's Middle Eastern heritage. I didn't try too many appetizers but I liked the grilled broccolini. Overall this is a very competent Neapolitan-style pie.

Lamb sausage pizza

 The Look: Very spare. Though no traces of the burger joint remain, the room could use some art or homey touches.
What to Order: lamb sausage pizza, mushroom pizza, prosciutto pizza, broccolini. Here's a link to the menu.
Would I Return: Perhaps. There's no delivery, plus we're still pretty jazzed about De Sano. But that crust was pretty compelling. There is a small parking lot in the rear.

(I was invited to try this restaurant.)

De Sano Pizza Bakery: So Italian, East Hollywood Might Need a New Little Italy Sign

East Hollywood is already divided into Little Armenia and Thai Town, but now it may be time to carve out a Little Italy neighborhood on desolate eastern Santa Monica Blvd. near Normandie. The brand-new DeSano Pizza Bakery is so Italian, the Nashville-based pizzeria has a .it web domain, normally reserved for websites based in Italy. It's so Italian that not only are tomatoes, flour and oregano are brought in from the boot, but large bags of Italian sea salt line the hallway of the giant pizza bakery.
It's so Italian that one of the owners, Marino Monferrato, was previously general manager at Cecconi's in West Hollywood, while the main pizza-maker is named Massimiliano Di Lascio and some of the pizza-makers are conversing in Italian while they toss around the dough. It's so Italian that the TV plays soccer instead of football.

Not for locals only: In these days of all-local everything, bringing in nearly everything from another continent sounds almost counter-intuitive, but the proof is in the pie, which is very good indeed.
More tender and giving than the crust at Mother Dough, yet more substantial than Pasadena's Settebello, it's a true Neapolitan pizza with just the right heft. (Lago di Argento, take a note: this crust has just the right amount of salt.)

How-to: The staff is so friendly that they're already waving you in as you step one foot out the car door that you've parked in the spacious adjoining parking lot. You order at the counter in the front room of the former auto shop. Of course you can get it to go, but there's plenty of picnic-style seating in the large baking room. If you've ordered a spinach or caprese salad to start, it arrives right away, and the staff solicitously tears off pieces of paper towels from the roll on the table for napkins and offers cups for water from a fountain. (There are soft drinks and Pellegrino to drink; no wine or beer.) The pizzas cook quickly in four wood-burning ovens and are brought to your table in 10 or 15 minutes at most.

Pizzas are available in medium and large, and two fairly hungry people can easily polish off a large. The buffalo mozzarella cheese was milder and more chewy than I'm used to, but worked well with the broccoli rabe and sausage topping we chose. Next time, I would try a Margherita, which comes with sauce and can be topped with sausage, peppers, proscuitto or mushrooms. Most of the specialty pizzas don't have tomato sauce, so ask if it's important to you. There's also calzones and cannoli or gelato for dessert.
The verdict: DeSano Pizza instantly shoots near the top of the list of L.A.'s best pizzas, ranking right up there with Vito's and Mother Dough. (I'm not counting Mozza or Sotto because fancy restaurant pizzas are in kind of a different category.) And the best thing is that getting a solid 'za in L.A. is no longer a difficult quest, with so many good recent additions to a city that only 10 years ago didn't serve up many decent pies.

DeSano Pizza Bakery
4959 Santa Monica Blvd. (at Alexandria)
Hollywood
323-913-7000 (open 11:30 am to about 10 pm every day)

Hard Times and Nicky D's Exit Silver Lake; Z Pizza Moving to Griffith Park Blvd.

With Nicky D's and Hard Times closing within a week or two of each other, it's out with the old and in with the newer pizza guard in Silver Lake. Wood will be opening in the old Tom's Burgers space on Sunset soon with the silly logo, while many pizzaphiles have moved on to Mother Dough, Lucifer's, Tomato Pie and Garage to name just a few.
Hard Times, where I probably ate hundreds of pies in the '90s, is cleaned out inside. A sign on the door explains that the rent was raised too high for them to continue. They've already reopened at a former Domino's location on Glendale Blvd. in Echo Park, according to the Eastsider. Their pizza was fine when there was little else in the neighborhood besides Pizza Buona and Domino's, but not all that impressive once you tried the newer entries. Meanwhile chain restauant Z Pizza is apparently moving into the Hard Times space with its California Pizza Kitchen-esque menu of pizzas and salads.
Nicky D's was terribly inconsistent -- lodged in an old house with a problematic parking lot, it had moments of wood-fired greatness, especially at the beginning 11 years ago, mixed with screaming at the servers, forgetting that your pizza was sitting on the counter while you were waiting with hungry small children, forgetting to deliver your order, etc. The owners said a new restaurant will be moving in.
We usually go to Tomato Pie, since it's the closest, but I also like Mother Dough when it's not too crowded and there's no kids to feed and Lucifer's for the fiery ring-burner model. Will you miss Hard Times and Nicky D's?

Atwater Crossing Reboots with BBQ as The Crossing...or ATX

The Crossing or ATX is mostly patio eating, though there's an enclosed room behind the bar.

ATX, formerly Atwater Crossing Kitchen, is almost the restaurant I used to dream of when my kids were small: a place with decent pizza where the kids could run around while the parents drank pitchers of reasonably-priced craft beers. It only took 15 or 20 years for the near-Eastside to catch up to that idea, but now that we've got The Crossing, the results are a bit uneven.

brisket is a bit fatty, though collards are fine

Early in the evening, it appears that plenty of parents and dog-owners have also been waiting for a place like this -- even though there's nothing specifically kid-friendly on the menu, the patio tables are spread-out enough that the tots aren't as likely to bother fellow diners. It can be a confusing place: the ownership seems to keep changing, so there's not really a website, and even if you live nearby, you'll probably want to consult the GPS the first time you go. But now, Texas smoked BBQ has been added to the earlier pizza-intensive menu.

Pizza comes with brisket, pesto and several other toppings

We tried some of each, and the barbecue wasn't quite up to snuff yet, although the sauce was a tangy, zingy pleasure. Both pork ribs and brisket were way too fatty -- clearly the pitmaster has yet to master the technique that Horse Thief in Grand Central Market has perfected. Collards and potato salad were fine, but it might be nice to offer at least one side included with a meat choice.

a half rack of ribs

Ribs were also on the fatty side, though the sauce certainly helped. Pizza would be better with just another minute or two in the wood-fired oven. The beer selection isn't bad though, and pitchers are just $10 from 4-6 on weekdays and $15 the rest of the time. Maybe ATX or the Crossing or whatever it's called is still getting its barbecue sea legs, so I wouldn't write it off just yet. Because really, I've been waiting for a place like this for a long, long time -- in fact so long that my son can now drink a pitcher with us legally and complain about toddlers underfoot.

Casa Bianca Pizza's old-school charm: The classics series

The pizza you grew up with often becomes your platonic ideal of pizza. In my case, that would probably be Di Vita's, which still turns out a credible pie in West L.A. Or maybe it was the pizza you ate in college -- our go-to place was The Brass Ass, which must have piled several pounds of mozzarella on each pizza, but went down well with endless pitchers of Michelob.
So I didn't grow up with Casa Bianca Pizza in Eagle Rock, though half the people I know seem to have -- it's been there since 1955. I've grown impatient with the hallmarks of places that have become institutions -- some of the indicators are long waits, cash only policies, lots of reviews plastered on the wall and sometimes food that's a few decades past its prime. Casa Bianca is indeed cash-only, with a punishing wait unless you do takeout. But the pizza is as good as ever, so its reputation is justified.
The people: During the inevitable wait, you'll get to check out the full array of Eagle Rock area pizza lovers, from groups of elderly smoking Russians to smoking suburban middle-aged white couples (the place seems to draw smokers, who knows why) to young rockabilly couples who look to have much more exciting plans for after dinner.

The rest of the menu: Casa Bianca not only has beer and wine, they've recently added a couple of craft beers to their list. There's a large menu of pastas and main dishes, but I don't know anyone who orders them -- you're there for the pizza. But it takes a while to come out, so it's probably a good idea to get an antipasto salad for the table to share while you're waiting.
The pizza: Get the thin crust, preferably with the homemade sausage, flavored with plenty of fennel seeds. Skip the canned mushrooms -- if you want another topping, try olives or garlic. The cheese, sauce and toppings are perfectly proportioned, and the crust is just the right thickness to support it all. The crust isn't as flavorful as at the new wild yeast, wood-fired places, but Casa Bianca is more about the right interplay between the ingredients. The toppings and sauce continue right to the edge of the pizza, a divisive issue. If the crust is really good on it's own, then the little ledge of dough can be a nice treat at the end of the slice. If it's undistinguished, as at Casa Bianca, then by all means, take it to the edge. This is not a sophisticated pizza, but your table will likely devour the delicious, strangely-cut pieces before you even have a chance to contemplate where Casa Bianca falls on L.A.'s new pizza map.
The details: Go early. Bring cash. And remember, pizza is usually better when consumed on-site instead of to-go.
Casa Bianca
1650 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock
323- 256-9617

Settebello: One more step to a better Pasadena

Diavola pizza features peppered salami

Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana is the latest entry in the ongoing push for Pasadena not to suck so badly, foodwise, and it's a worthy attempt. Like nearly everything else along Colorado, there's a whiff of the corporate about Settebello, which has two locations in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, a slick website and servers who earnestly explain that the pizzas are sized individually and served unsliced.
The former Famima market has been stripped of its Pockys and classed up with a large marble bar, long wooden tables and lots of golden lights; on a Friday night it fills up fast with couples and families with strollers. But it's a bit more sophisticated than a neighborhood pizza joint, with Italian cocktails and a menu mostly centered on vera pizza Napoletana. A nearly-breadless panzanella salad with arugula and croutons is pleasant but far from authentic -- it's probably just as well given the dough that follows. There's also an antipasto plate and several other salads, and a decent selection of Italian wines and beers.

Pizzas that bear that label must be made by trained pizzaiolos, hand rolled and cooked in a wood-burning oven. The result is a fairly thin crust with nice bits of char, a slightly soggy center and a goodly amount of chew. The menu at the Pasadena location is slightly different from the one on the website -- there's no Quattro Stagioni variety, and several of the toppings in Pasadena seem to include mascarpone or panna. Is this traditional in Italy? The extra creaminess didn't add much to the pizza -- I preferred the Diavola, in which the cleaner flavors seemed to cohere into a lightly spicy and satisfying whole. In general, the topping selection seemed kind of middle-of-the-road, and I'd agree with Sinosoul that the toppings might not be of the highest quality -- but priced fairly at about $13 each.
The verdict: Settebello is definitely worth a try for its nicely chewy crust if you're in the Pasadena area to go to Vroman's or the Playhouse theaters. But I'd stick with Mother Dough, despite its lengthy wait, for a little more character.
Settebello Pizzeria

625 E Colorado
Pasadena

(626) 765-9550

Birba Pizza & Cocktails: A cool Palm Springs spot, even in summer

Tricolore salad is the poster child for this popular dish

When Cheeky's came on the scene in Palm Springs a couple of years ago, it was a breath of bacon-scented fresh air in the mostly moribund desert. Now, the owners of Cheeky's have taken it a step further, turning the large adjacent garden into Birba, a mostly-outdoor evening pizza and cocktails lounge. Even without burrata and charcuterie, this patio would be a lovely place to sip an icy carafe of rose as the temperature finally sinks below 100. But add some wood-fired pizza and sophisticated salads, and there's little reason to explore other Palm Springs dining options. Large shards of good parmesan were scattered over the tricolore salad, which had a bright lemony dressing and perfectly fresh radicchio, arugula and endive. Burrata salad made a pretty plate, and pizzas were topped with the likes of homemade sausage or braised greens. There's also a specials menu with mains like roast chicken and more creative salads, if you're not in the mood for pizza.

The patio is pleasant even in summer heat -- and dog-friendly

In the summer, it's still pretty hot in the evenings, but omnipresent desert misters help take it down a notch. My only quibble would be the trendy lucite chairs, which are a little sticky in the heat for all the shorts-clad diners. Cocktails include the Habanero Margarita, Lemongrass Rickey and French Lemonade, and both the rose and white La Veille Ferme wines are a great value at $28 a bottle.

margarita pizza has a very respectable crust

Birba

622 N. Palm Canyon Dr.
Palm Springs
760-327-5678

Mother Dough fires up Los Feliz

Pizzas cook quickly in the wood-fired oven

L.A. has taken big steps as a pizza town since I did a big pizza tasting round-up for VLife Weekend back in 2005. Since then we've gained Pizzeria Mozza, Tomato Pie, Lucifer's, Garage, Two Boots and Il Capricco Pizzeria, just down the street from the new Mother Dough on Hollywood Blvd.
Also sporting a wood-fired oven, Il Capricco is now Di Carlo, and I haven't been there lately, but it certainly raised the bar for Los Feliz when it opened. So pizza has now become a higher-stakes game, and Mother Dough has the goods to compete. It's more of an eat-in than a take out place, with beer and wine and a smattering of starters -- raw almonds with lemon juice, a nice dish of marinated olives, a charcuterie plate, burrata salad, bacon-wrapped dates.

sausage slices and buffalo mozzarella on a just-charred enough crust

Though the uber-hot oven takes only 90 seconds to cook a pizza, the sole pizza cook -- owner Bez Compani -- gets pretty backed up and pizzas take about a half hour after ordering to come out. The menu explains that the pies are traditional Neopolitan style, so toppings are minimal -- basically, sausages, prosciutto, zucchini, roasted tomato or plain bufala mozzarella. The sauce is fresher tasting than most pizza sauces, with bright tomato notes. The pizza comes out nicely charred -- though some have found it too charred -- but the best thing is the taste of the crust itself, with a distinct wild yeast sourdough tang and a perfect chew.
Pros: The crust was good enough that I'd definitely go back. The room is pleasant and I'd like to taste more varieties of pizza. And Bar Covell a few doors down makes a perfect place for a drink afterwards.
Cons: Minimalist menu could use more well-priced salads, sides or starters. Pizzas seem awfully slow for something that cooks in 90 seconds. Pizzas are a bit small for two to share, but at $18 each, pricey for each person to order their own.
Mother Dough
4648 Hollywood Blvd.
323-644-2885

Santa Inez Valley: Wine, garlic and Santa Barbara squid

 Full of Life Flatbread's vegetable garden

I'm not sure why I hadn't ever stopped in the Santa Inez Valley on my way up Highway 101, but I suspect it had something to do with the presence of restless children packed into the backseat among loads of camping gear, and the need to get to Big Sur by sundown. Last week I skipped the annual Big Sur camping trip for a closer weekend in Los Alamos, Solvang and Los Olivos, and it's really one of the best close-by getaways there is -- especially if you like wine. Here's some worthy stops between Santa Barbara and Los Alamos.
 
In Santa Barbara, nearly everyone in town was in line at La Super Rica. I've been there a zillion times, so we tried Lilly's instead. Lilly's is a very basic taco place hard by the 101, with a specialty in more obscure cow parts like lip, head and eye. Matt braved the tacos de ojos ($1.40 each, bottom in photo) -- "a little slimy, not bad with salsa," he reported, while I enjoyed the pork adobada. Lilly's isn't much different from eating in Highland Park, but it's probably the only place in Santa Barbara to eat for $3.00 and makes an easy lunch stop.
 
We stayed at the Skyview Motel in Los Alamos -- it's pretty basic, but super reasonably-priced and has a pool, rec room with a pool table, generous free breakfast on weekends and it's walking distance from Full of Life Flatbread, the main attraction in tiny Los Alamos. It's only open for dinner on weekends, but Full of Life is well worth a stop for its flatbread pizzas cooked in a giant woodburning oven.
 
There's plenty of outdoor seating or toasty tables near the oven indoors, and the restaurant has an excellent local wine and beer list. We ate in the middle of the restaurant's garden, ordering Santa Barbara squid roasted in the oven and a salad from the restaurant's garden along with a Central Coast sausage and cheese flatbread. The thin, chewy flatbread uses coarsely-milled organic flour for an extremely flavorful crust marked with browned bubbles.

The next day we explored the beautiful area around Los Olivos, Solvang and Lompoc. In Los Olivos, you can get a tri-tip sandwich at the Los Olivos Grocery or pick up picnic supplies for later. We stopped in at the Carhartt tasting room -- the tasting room is tiny, but a shady garden out back accommodates several more people, and it was lovely relaxing by the fishpond while winemaker Brooke poured samples. The $10 tasting fee was waived because I just had to pick up a bottle of the Pinot Noir and one of the rose.
 
In Los Olivos, don't miss Homegrown Garlic on the main drag, a stand where Paul Poulmer grows and sells over 60 varieties of garlic. We choose Rose du Lautric and Belarus varieties to take home.

Solvang was hot and touristy, but we made a quick stop for Danish aebleskivers, the freshly-made cross between a donut and a pancake that are irresistible with raspberry jam. It was there I invented a new rule for trips: When you see a local specialty being made on the street or served through a window on the sidewalk, it's always best to try it, or you'll be thinking about it the rest of the trip. We didn't stop at the ostrich farm in Solvang, but it might be a fun stop if you've got kids or want to buy some ostrich eggs or meat.

Alma Rosa Winery feels like it's in deep countryside, but it's really just a few miles outside of Buellton on the way to Lompoc. The winery is owned by Richard and Thekla Sanford, who started one of the very first wineries in the area back in 1981. They're now producing all organic wines at Alma Rosa, where the rustic tasting room and patio seems far removed from noisy L.A.

On the way home, we stopped at Classic Organic in Goleta, a wonderful farm stand with pick-your-own strawberries, uber-fresh eggs in  every pastel shade and lots of other fruits and vegetables. The strawberry I stole from a sun-warmed plant was probably the best I've ever had, and I was glad to have the organic eggs when I returned home to find out my Trader Joe's eggs had to be trashed due to the recall. Whether you go to taste wine or just check out the garlic and flatbread, the Santa Inez valley is really close and fun to visit.

EatingLA's Rules of Pizza Engagement

Lucifer's jalapeno-laden Ringburner

Like most paraprofessional eaters around here, I've tried a pretty wide range of L.A.'s often lackluster pies and have formulated a few guidelines for finding a great pizza. A recent blogger tasting at Lucifer's Pizza clarified these rules. They're my rules. You can feel free to disagree.
Rule #1: Chicken does not belong on pizza. I rue the day California Pizza Kitchen foisted the bbq chicken pizza on an unsuspecting public. I don't care if it's bbq chicken, Thai chicken satay or buffalo chicken wing pizza, it should have stayed off the pie and let better ingredients have their day.

Half-Greek, half Margarita

Rule #2: You can't recover from a bad crust. If the crust is flavorless, cardboardy, too thin or too bready, it's not gonna matter too much what the toppings are. I was pleasantly surprised by Lucifer's crust -- good flavor, good chew, nicely browned. Not as thin as a real New York-style pizza like Tomato Pie, closer to Vito's, which remains my gold standard for L.A. pizza.
Rule #3: Silly names are...well, kinda silly. I really can't get away with tweeting "Hey, that Ringburner pizza really lives up to its name!" Maybe the Glutster could, but for me it's just embarrassing. Ordering a Bayou Beast or a Cleopatra Jones at Two Boots is nearly as bad. The thing is, the Ringburner is actually pretty great, if badly named. See rule #4.
Rule #4: A pizza with no heat is good, but super spicy pizzas might be even better. The aforementioned Bayou Beast at Two Boots combines jalapenos, crawfish and andouille to a particularly good effect. The Ringburner, with pepperoni, jalapenos and hot chili sauce is equally fine. The spice level isn't for chile wimps, but it doesn't even approach most of the dishes at Jitlada. Lucifer's pizza comes in four different spice levels, because New Zealand-born owner Adam Borich simply loves spicy food. It's a little gimmicky-- "There's scary stuff in here!" said the adorable mini-Deep End Dining, of the gargoyles and devil portraits. But hey, you gotta stand out in the crowd of dozens of local pizzerias, right?

Lucifer's pumpkin proscuitto pie

Rule #5: Branch out beyond your normal order once in a while (but possibly not as far as chicken). I was a little skeptical of Lucifer's roasted pumpkin and prosciutto, but the combination of salty ham, sweet caramelized pumpkin with roast garlic and basil was way more successful than I would have thought. Similarly, I might not have ordered the Greek Lamb & Rosemary on my own, but the lamb sausage, feta and Greek olives were just different enough from the usual sausage and olive pie to take it to a whole other level. It was possibly the favorite of the group.
Lucifer's Pizza

1958 Hillhurst Ave.
(323) 906-8603

Matchbox Pizza Palm Springs: Suds in the desert

If you've been eating in Palm Springs for decades, since Hamburger Hamlet was the only edible place around, you've learned to be thankful for small things: A good beer list. An ample, tasty burger and fries. A decently-made pizza crust. A place that's guaranteed to have lively customers, instead of a sea of empty tables.
All these things can be found at Matchbox Pizza, an offshoot of a Washington D.C. pizzeria that has become many desert visitors' default dinner stop. Pretty much every place in Palm Springs, including the plush revamped Riviera Hotel, has happy hour every night of the week from 5-7, and Matchbox's is a good one. There are $6 pizzas, $5 cocktails and $2 off draft beers. While I was in the desert, I worked my way through the drafts, trying Acme IPA, Leffe Blond, Allagash Curieux and Chimay Triple. The $13 Bistro burger is pricier than Tyler's, but was enough for a hearty meal and went well with the Chimay. A big salad with apples, pears and pecans was fine, but skip the glazed scallops and stick with pizza, beer and burgers.
The setting is right in the middle of the tourist action, which is a little rough on the nights live top 40 bands play in the plaza below, but nice on a warm, breezy desert night with the flickering firelight of the central bar area. In the desert, it's best to keep it simple, and Matchbox does simple just fine.
Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro
155 S. Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs
760-778-6000

Pavich's charming Croatian-style pizza: Guest post

(photo LA Times)

EatingLA hasn't been able to get to San Pedro lately to check out Pavich's Brick Oven Pizzeria, but a friend did. Writer Jonathan Blum ate there with his winemaker uncle and and EuroPane's Sumi Chang and sent this nicely-observed report:
We drove down and stopped first at a nearby park in San Pedro, Angels Gate, which has a giant "peace bell" that was given as a friendship gesture by Korea to the United States on the occasion of the bicentennial. A wedding was going on. We walked around the park a bit, which overlooks the ocean as well as the Port of Los Angeles, but the wind was a little chilly so we didn't stay long. Then we found the pizzeria, a modest storefront right in the middle of a hilly middle- to lower-middle-class neighborhood of apartment houses, bungalows, and other single-family homes. A couple storefronts up from the pizzeria was a closed shop called Baltic Bakery.
A couple storefronts in the other direction was a slightly seedy laundromat. The late afternoon Pacific light was very lovely. Groups of neighborhood kids were constantly milling about along the sidewalk, and people were regularly coming and going with orders from Pavich's to go.
The shop itself is long and narrow, with the offerings handwritten brightly on a board above the head. The proprietor, an immigrant about 40, seemed to be shyly amused by the attention the LA Times article has recently brought to his business. The place offers both Croatian comfort food and Croatian-style pizza. We started with cabbage rolls, terrific stuffed cabbages with spicy ground beef, served with mashed potatoes, a mushroom gravy, and julienned roasted red peppers. (I grew up eating Ashkenazic Jewish food, and so I consider myself a tough judge of stuffed cabbage, and this was very good.) I also wrote down the names of two items we didn't get but whose names I liked so much, I assume the dishes themselves will live up to their names: chavapchichi and plyeskaritza. And then we had a vegetarian calzone and a huge (18") combination quattro gusti/Croatian pizza. On the wide sidewalk in front of the shop there is a grill for grilling sausage and a couple metal tables; we brought tablecloth, napkins, silverware, and wine, and set up on those two tables and had a great time. Some people take the food out and bring it to the park. My uncle brought a 2005 zinfandel he made; then he impressed us by knowing that the zinfandel grape is originally from Croatia. The crust on the pizza had a desirable crunch, and the toppings--it was a half and half, with smoked meats and vegetables--were yummy. There was something very charming about the whole experience. I recommend taking some friends down there sometime when you want to get away from our part of town and have a well-crafted, unpretentious, tasty meal; it's a great neighborhood place, a fine adventure.
-- Jonathan Blum

Pavich's
2311 S. Alma St.
San Pedro,
(310) 519-1200

Garage Pizza revs up Silver Lake

This isn't the banana pizza, but it was tasty anyway

I checked out Garage Pizza last night on the way home, and it's a sweet little spot. Parking, naturally, is not always fun in the Tang Donuts mini-mall, but fortunately they have free delivery. There's a few tables and stools if you want to eat in before or after hitting nearby watering holes. (Slices are $3.) The garagey theme is carried out with some old-timey signs which play well off the modern furnishings. They were cooking up a banana pizza just for fun when I stopped in to pick up my pie and offered me a piece, and it worked surprisingly well. I recommended trying bacon with banana and the pizza cook was enthusiastic about the idea. They're also going to try a strawberry/chocolate dessert pizza (sans cheese) in coming days. And if you're one of those people who likes to order off the menu, try the special Garage pie, which pays homage to Malo's tacos across the street: It's a ground beef and pickle pizza. The pizza was solid, with a tangy sauce that packs more flavor than most pizza sauces. Thin crust had a nice chewy bite and good flavor. A little light on the cheese. This is not a revolutionary pie, but it will probably taste pretty damn good at 3 am, which is how late it stays open Thursday through Saturday. Other nights, they turn in at midnight.
Garage Pizza
4339 1/2 Sunset Blvd.
(323) 668-1190

Quick bite: Tomato Pie in Silver Lake

Plenty of outdoor seating, complete with vintage stoves at Tomato Pie

I'm not gonna hold it against Tomato Pie that they might have jumped the gun a tiny bit on their soft opening, inviting people via Chowhound before there was any visible sign of habitation. Silver Lake restaurants seem to specialize in obscure locations, and Tomato Pie is no exception. But now there is a sign on the side of the building, as well as some flyers in the window of the chiropractor's office in front. Go around the back, and you'll find a perfectly nice, clean pizza parlor with tables on the asphalt patio, a few vintage stoves for decoration and a display case of salads and desserts. My son and I walked over to pick up a mushroom and pepperoni pizza and we were all very happy with it. It's a thin, floppy New York style, similar to Hard Times back when it was still good. -- overall a very satisfying, reasonably-priced pie. (A large cheese is $13, plus $1.50 each for a good selection of toppings including items like corn, goat cheese, spinach and kalamata olives.) Also pastas, subs and salads and free delivery.
Tomato Pie Pizza Joint
2457 Hyperion Ave. (behind the hair salon, next to Baller's art store)
(323) 661-6474

Silver Lake about to overdose on pizza

At least three new pizza spots are open or opening in Silver Lake.

Andiamo at 2815 Sunset promises delivery on Vespas -- cute touch. Good topping selection, choice of whole wheat crust. Also salads, panini.

Tomato Pie Pizza Joint (same as the one on Melrose) promises New York style pizza, subs, etc. From the state of the space, I'd say it's at least two months away.
2457 Hyperion (corner of Tracy and across from Baller Hardware)
323-661-6474

As for Garage Pizza in the Fountain and Sunset minimall, it's coming along -- I'd say a month or two away.

Quick bite: Brownstone Pizza, Eagle Rock

Brownstone Pizza has some serious coglioni to open just a few blocks down from the iconic Casa Bianca, but if you don't feel like waiting for an hour, it's a good alternative for a very East Coast style pie. Lots of people get the giant $2.95 slices, but if you've got two or more people, just get a whole pie. It looks approximately as large as a kiddie swimming pool, but the thin and pliable crust allows origaming each slice into an edible packet, and you'll want two or three slices each. It's best right out of the oven, and while there's nothing revolutionary about it, it approaches the satisfying New York-style interplay of flavorful cheese and crispy yet floppy crust that people are constantly going on about. Plus, the red-sauced pasta dishes are hearty and ample, they're starting delivery soon, they take credit cards and are working on a beer and wine license. The room's not fancy, so the best bet could be to sip some wine at Colorado Wine next door, where they allow you to bring in a pizza to go with the wine.
Brownstone Pizzeria
2108 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock
(323) 257-4992

Quick bite: Vito's Pizza

Oh Vito, why La Cienega? Why did you leave us? Los Feliz's loss is West Hollywood's gain as Vito's Pizza reopens shoehorned into a soul-less La Cienega mini-mall -- albeit with easy parking. I wasn't even that hungry when I had a minute to duck out of the office Friday, but I still hadn't gotten to Vito's since it re-opened. After getting a slice of the white pizza and a slice of Terra Firma (peppers, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, etc.), I sank my teeth into the crust of the white pizza and immediately understood what all the buzz was about. It's not exactly like a John's New York pizza, but the crust just tastes better than anything in L.A. A nice chew, not very well-done -- no Mozza-esque char -- just a pure bready taste with the proper amount of salt. The white pie with blobs of ricotta is a lovely thing, but I think I'd like to get a whole pizza fresh out of the oven to really experience Vito's. The pies come only in large size, though, starting at $16.50 for a cheese and rising precipitously to $32.50 for one with arugula, proscuitto, gorgonzola and pine nuts. Vito's also has baked ziti, eggplant parmesan, calzones, etc., but why would you devitate from the pizza?
Vito's Pizza
846 N. La Cienega Blvd.
(310) 652-6859